


Much To Do About Something

by QuaratineCorner



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, M/M, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:27:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23641573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuaratineCorner/pseuds/QuaratineCorner
Summary: This is going to be a long haul fic. Hopefully one full chapter a day. It begins at the start of the Marauders fourth year at Hogwarts, and will progress onwards. It's predominantly a Wolfstar fic :) but it'll grow into some Jily as well. The boys, amidst the mischief, are growing into some pretty confusing feelings and two stubborn, strong minded Marauders become shrinking violets under some new and, quite frankly, ground breaking revelations about themselves and their best friend. After all, it's not reciprocated...right?
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 18





	1. Getting back to Hogwarts

**Author's Note:**

> Be nice! I'm no expert, nor an author, and I don't own any of these characters. They belong to the wonderful world of Harry Potter so elegantly written by JK Rowling :) I'm just trying things out during this quarantine and don't exactly have a great concept of how to structure my fan fics yet and yeah this chapter kinda sucks. They'll get good with the help of some constructive criticism! Thanks.

Three incredible years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry had already flown by for Remus Lupin. It had been such a shock and a blessing when, as a young werewolf, Remus had received his letter on March 10th 1971, and honestly he still had to pinch himself every day, over three years later, to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. Now, standing on the muggle platform of Kingscross Station between ticket barriers nine and ten (waiting for a good time to slide through the solid wall as though nothing abnormal was happening), Remus was anxiously awaiting his forth year at the magical school.  
What was the most surreal, Remus thought idly to himself as he leant against the wall, gliding right through and into a bustling platform nine and three quarters, was that he still had three fiercely loyal friends. This, unbelievably, was despite his… furry little problem, as they referred to it. They being the Marauders, Remus’ best friends. Last year, just around Remus’ fourteenth birthday, a very nosy and intelligent James Potter and Sirius Black had concluded three years of perpetual snooping by figuring out why Remus was always tired, weak, and littered in silvery scars. Since being bitten by the wicked werewolf, Fenrir Greyback, at four years old, Remus had spent every full moon experiencing soul sucking, bone cracking transformations and Sirius and James had finally connected all the dots.  
It was only a matter of time, Remus told himself as he hauled the luggage into an empty compartment on the gleaming scarlet steam train. The boys were bright and they knew Remus better than anyone. On top of that, living in a dorm room with them day in, day out, meant that they were only learning more by the minute. After all, there was only so much Remus could do to feebly hide his weakness, exhaustion and injuries after a full moon. The only thing Remus couldn’t, for the life of him, understand was why on earth the marauders were still friends with him.  
He didn’t deserve friends like them, he thought. They were better off without him, and Remus had felt eternally guilty that they were lumbered with him before they knew about his lycanthropy. Now they knew, however, he felt even worse. He was a curse on society. The newspapers all said it about werewolves. He was a monster and he didn’t have any intention of putting his nearest and dearest friends through his illness. They deserved better. If it was down to him, they’d never have to worry about Remus again… but it didn’t seem to be up to him. James, Sirius and Peter had been even more caring, considerate and attentive than ever before and certainly didn’t take Remus’ bids to be shunned well. Idiot boys, he thought to himself with a hint of a guilty smile.  
Remus didn’t have much more time to think about the ever lingering guilt in the back of his mind before he had been lumbered with a lapful of one excitable Sirius Black.  
“MOONPIE, MY LOVELY MOONY-PIE, HAVE YA MISSED ME?” Sirius sang dramatically, releasing Remus from a rib cracking hug and ruffling his tawny curls into a wavy mess that largely impaired his vision. Forcing away a smile and plastering a pathetic excuse for a frown onto his face, Remus went to fix his hair and huffed.  
“Will you NOT call me that so very loudly in what, I think we can all agree, is a painfully public place?” Remus pleaded, lips giving in and twitching into a grateful smile as Sirius beamed down at him. The taller boy carelessly threw a very expensive looking trunk onto the luggage rack above them. Remus winced slightly at the large clunking noise it made. Remus didn’t have enough nice things that it was okay to be so haphazard with them.  
“Don’t be silly and tell me you’ve missed me. I’ll be crushed if you don’t. I’ve been spending the holidays at the Potters and none of them comply with my needs of constant ego stroking!” Sirius pouted, sitting opposite Remus in the compartment and throwing his hands in the air as though it was the biggest audacity in the world that the Potter family wouldn’t inflate his already enormous head. Sirius, Remus knew, had to be the most dramatic person Hogwarts had ever seen. Every small inconvenience, excitement or scandal had to be a scene. Remus suspected the cravings for public speculation was something to do with Sirius’ distinct lack of positive attention from his abusive parents. Not that that was something he would ever suggest. Sirius didn’t often talk about his family, and for good reason. The topic was to be left well alone, and it could be now that Sirius seemed to be spending most of his summers with his best friend, James Potter, and his family. At that moment, Sirius cleared his throat, raising an expectant eyebrow.  
“Yes,” Remus nodded with a solemn expression on his freckled face, “I’ve greatly missed you. Truly, I must cherish my time with you while I can!” Remus mock swooned, holding a hand to his forehead and smirking. Although he was acting the part Sirius so desperately craved, Remus knew there were traces of truth in that. He did cherish the time he spent with Sirius. His other friends as well, but there was something about Sirius. He got him. An unspoken bond between the two boys in the marauders who had had a broken childhood, for reasons of their own. As Remus pulled himself back to his seat, James bundled into the compartment, hair as ruffled and sticky-uppy as ever.  
“Remus! See Sirius is already drooling over you. Can’t blame him, looking dashing as ever.” James flashed Remus his award winning smile, the one that usually had all the girls falling over their own feet. Funny it was that neither Sirius or James had that glint of fear in their eyes that Remus even got from some of the Hogwarts teachers who knew about his condition. Why? He genuinely couldn’t understand why they weren’t screaming ‘MONSTER’ and running off the train.  
“He’s drooling over the attention I’ve just given him, seeing as you’ve deprived him.” Remus smiled back, pulling his wand out and tucking it behind his ear. “Grown again?” He mused, staring up at now as easily five foot ten James, who was getting more gangly by the second, it seemed. Standing proud, James flexed what Remus supposed was his idea of a muscle.  
“Reckon Evans will notice? Reckon she’s gotten more beautiful? Reckon she’ll finally give into my charms?” James flopped into a chair, resting his chin on his hand with a whopping sigh. Sirius barked a laugh and shook his head.  
“C’mon, James. You could have anyone in the castle you want… Alright, maybe not the seventh year girls… Alright, fine, not sixth or fifth year girls either.” Sirius narrowed down James’ options as Remus shot disbelieving looks at the ambitious goals. “But my point is,” He continued, “why Evans? She’s not interested, and she’s stuck up, anyway.” Sirius turned his nose up and scowled. Lily Evans had never liked Sirius, and she had certainly never liked James. All too often she was berating Remus on getting involved in their shenanigans because, in her words, he was too lovely, sweet and smart to get caught up in their arrogant mischief. Little did she know, despite her soft spot for Remus, he was often the very brains behind all the pranks and tricks the Marauders played in the castle. He had the strongest moral compass, for sure, but that didn’t mean a wide eyed Sirius Black couldn’t convince him more often than not. Those very eyes, stormy grey in colour, were watching Remus now. James was babbling on about Lily, unheard by the other two boys who had listened to it a million times over, but Sirius was scanning Remus. The wolf himself squirmed uncomfortably and narrowed amber eyes at Sirius.  
“What?” He turned to the window of the train, spotting a chubby, sandy haired boy struggling to haul a case across the platform. Sirius followed his gaze and hopped up.  
“Nothing. Watching your brain ticking over.” Sirius smirked, opening the compartment door and swinging into the corridor and off the train. He picked up Peter’s trunk with ease as Remus watched the two boys chatting away and bidding Mrs Pettigrew farewell before joining Remus and James, who had finally taken the hint that he needn’t keep explaining his love for Lily. Peter hadn’t even had time to greet his friends before the whistle of the train cried and it jolted to a start. Balance not being his strong point, Peter stumbled and landed face down on the floor. Doing his best not to erupt into laughter alongside James and Sirius, Remus stared determinedly out the window. Remus was the first to know the train journey would only get more ridiculously funny from here on out. He’d best get himself prepared for whatever James and Sirius had cooked up during their holidays. 

******************************************************************************************************************************************************

“Sirius will you stop that, we’re nearly there.” Remus complained as Sirius, sprawled out across the seat resulting in his legs across Remus, whined like a dog. The excitement for school, far from wearing off but certainly subdued for now, had lasted for Sirius for a surprisingly short amount of time before the impatience kicked in. Remus wasn’t wrong, in five minutes they’d be pulling into the station and darting toward the thestral pulled carriages in the hopes of scoffing down the start of term feast as rapidly as possible.  
“Why?”  
“Because it’s annoying and you’re on me. Why are you always on me?” Remus shoved at Sirius’ legs and sent them, along with the pale boy attached to them, hurtling to the very ground that Peter had found himself facing nine hours previously. A vague shriek of surprise was followed by an indigent “OI!” And Sirius’ angry face popped up before Remus’. “You’ve made an enemy tonight, Rem. I kid you not, I- NO, Pete, this is NOT just because I’m hungry!” Sirius started flailing around, but Remus, who had noticed the slow of the train, had shoved Sirius out of the way and was pulling his robes on. The others followed suit, though Sirius did so rather grumpily and was muttering something about ‘I’m not always on him’ and ‘maybe he’s always under me!’. Sirius’ voice was drowned out by the great big figure of Hagrid who was calling to the first years. Exhausted from a very long day, and a looming full moon during the week ahead, Remus stayed very quiet all the way up to the castle. James and Peter were chirpy and didn’t quite notice this. Sirius, though, subtly directed worried glances at Remus until they were sat in the great hall, when the sorting took his attention. Remus was glad of this. As discrete as Sirius was being, every sense of the wolf within him was screaming that eyes were on him. He was happy to be back at school, and back with his friends, but he had anticipated the extra worry his friends would carry. Sirius in particular. All he wanted was to crawl into his lovely warm bed and get a good rest so that he could fully enjoy his first day of lessons. Feast, sorting and Dumbledore’s warning of Filch to the Pranksters (he definitely caught Sirius’ guilty eye when he said that) done, the Marauders filed into the Gryffindor common room and straight up to bed. Fatigue had clearly hit James and Peter, finally, and they were out like lights, only a few murmured words of mischief before slumber consumed them. Remus himself was prepared to sink into his pillow when a head peered in through a gap in the drapes around his bed.  
“Moony?” Sirius whispered, clad in obnoxiously red Gryffindor pyjamas.  
“Yeah, Sirius?”  
“Are you okay?” At this, Remus’ face softened from the exasperated expression into a smile. He patted the end of his bed for Sirius to sit.  
“I’m okay. It’s always a long day stuck in a confined space with you lot.” Remus teased, running his hands over his face and into his hair. It wasn’t normal for a fourteen year old boy to be this tired, Sirius was sure, but then you couldn’t expect Remus to be normal. He aimed a gentle kick at Remus, putting on a stroppy face.  
“Do you really mind when I lean on you? I just figured, you know, James isn’t a touchy guy and… well Peter is Peter and…” Sirius didn’t get a chance to finish his thought about Remus being the closest to him- emotionally- because Remus was shaking his head. Sirius felt a small wave of relief wash over him that he didn’t have to voice what he was feeling. Remus already knew.  
“‘Course I don’t mind, really. It’s a couple days until the full moon. Moony,” Remus went along with the pet name for his wolf, for the sake of Sirius’ smirk, “was getting a bit tetchy.” Remus wrinkled the end of his nose, where a slim silvery scar ran along the bridge. Sirius watched it curiously, not daring to ask about it to avoid upsetting Remus at all.  
“Gotcha. I’ll steer clear of wolfy Remus and be extra not annoying.” Sirius offered a grin, getting up to retreat to his own bed.  
“And, Rem? I mean it. I gotchu, if you need any extra… help.” Sirius’s porcelain cheeks flushed a very pale shade of pink. Remus almost missed it in the darkness.  
“I know. Thanks, Sirius. It means a lot, that you guys have my back. You don’t have to.” Remus hummed, climbed beneath the sheets and letting his eyes drop.  
“Don’t have to, but want to. G’night Moons.” Sirius whispered inaudibly, unbeknownst to a blacked out but now very happy Remus Lupin.


	2. Up to no good

Remus wished he could say he was awoken by the gentle singing of birds and a stream of sunlight breaking through the curtains. He wished. However, he was actually awoken by what he could only imagine was James’ idea of singing. Terribly out of key and rhythmless as it was, its sheer volume woke Remus with immediate effect.  
“James,” He grunted, poking his head out of his drawn drapes and seizing a pillow with every intention of throwing it in the direction of James’ head. Before he was successful, though, Sirius had beaten him to it. If anyone was less of a morning person than Remus, it was Sirius, who was currently wearing a deep scowl. A fully dressed James was beaming at them, running a hand through his messy hair and practically vibrating on the spot with excitement.  
“Why aren’t you two up yet? We’re bound to have care of magical creatures today and you know what that means?” Unfortunately, Remus did know what that meant, and he inwardly cursed himself for being able to follow James’ thought patterns. After Dumbledore had introduced a new professor for their care of magical creatures lessons, Remus had realised that a new teacher meant a fresh face who didn’t know quite the extent of their mischief. Sirius, apparently, was clocking on too.  
“This is fantastic!” Suddenly awake and spritely, Sirius was digging through his trunk to pull out an old, torn piece of parchment that was scrawled with a list of books.  
“By the end of the week we’ll have checked out half of the restricted section books from the library. He won’t know why we want them, and he won’t give us that classic suspicious glare when we’re bullshitting him!” Sirius now had a dreamy look in his eye as he though about all the new pranks he’d be able to compose now with his new materials.  
“We still have to be smart about it. Madame Pince knows better than him, we can’t all charge in with fully signed forms at once.” Remus reminded them, gathering his clothes and heading toward the bathroom to shower. He couldn’t help but grin to himself as he stepped under the warm water. It’d been too long since he’d caused a kerfuffle and his inner marauder was desperate to make an appearance.  
The morning passed quickly amidst the flurry of new timetables and whispered ideas for a Halloween prank. Every now and then, between Professor Slughorn’s bumbling instructions for brewing the perfect Pepperup Potion, Sirius would lean toward Remus and mumble some ridiculous concept that would only affect the Slytherin house. Thank Merlin Remus was good at stifling laughs, because the Slytherin’s across the room certainly wouldn’t be finding Sirius half as amusing as Remus was. He was sure Sirius was the reason that potions was his worst and only bad subject.  
Lunch time came around really quickly and the boys had decided that, after practically inhaling a couple of cheese sandwiches and a goblet of pumpkin juice, they’d spend their lunch hour deciding which restricted book to ask for first and how to do it. They had care of magical creatures right after lunch, so as they lounged lazily under the shade of the tree by the lake, Sirius pulled out his list once again.  
“You ask, Remus.” James said, staring down the list with trouble alight in his eyes.  
“No,” Remus began, quickly cut off by a squeak from Peter followed by,  
“Are you mad? Those two can’t do it. They attract suspicion.”  
“No, Peter,” Sirius interrupted, rolling cool grey eyes and tucking his glossy black hair behind his ears, “that defeats the object. This is a new teacher. This is mine and James’ free pass! We ask for the first few books, until he starts to realise the damage he’s done. Then swoops in Remus, sweet and innocent as ever, and good old Professor Kettlybon won’t think a thing of it. Just a curious young lad, thirsty for knowledge.” Sirius’ eyes gleamed as he draped an arm around Remus’ shoulders and smirked triumphantly. “Always knew you’d be a good recruitment to the Marauders.” To which James looked indignant.  
“I’m the one who poached Moony, you’re not taking credit for him. He’s my prodigy!” James began to protest before Remus rolled his eyes and interjected.  
“I’m glad you’re all under the impression you poached me, but can we stay focused. Professor Kettleburn,” Remus directed a pointed look at Sirius, who didn’t seem interested in their new teachers actual name in the slightest, “is a teacher. He’s not stupid, but Sirius is right. Sirius, you start us off with ‘One hundred handy hexes and charms for a delectably dreadful practical joke’. You’re the most charming, but least likely to behave yourself.” Sirius started to splutter an objection but decided it best not to kick up a fuss as Professor McGonagall was striding toward them. Remus held the list behind his back, where Sirius grabbed it and slid it to Peter. Peter thought it best to sit on the list, much to James’ displeasure. He forced away his grimace as McGonagall neared them, clearing her throat.  
“Boys. Hope you’re not already up to something.” She narrowed her eyes slightly, though her thin lips seemed to be stretched into somewhat of a reluctant smile. They all showed her their best, most convincing, innocent smiles.  
“Mr Lupin, Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office. No, Mr Black, you don’t need to accompany him. Save your persuasive speeches for when you need to get out of a detention.” She turned on her heel and began up the grounds back to the castle, Remus getting up to follow close behind her.  
“See you in a bit.” He called back, laughing at a disgruntled Sirius Black as James pleaded that Peter get off the list and stop ‘contaminating’ it.  
Remus needn’t worry. Dumbledore spoke to Remus at the beginning of every year at Hogwarts. They met to confirm the plans for the first full moon of the year. Remus, each transformation, was escorted down to the whomping willow, where the knot in the trunk of the tree could be hit to stop its flailing branches. He could then enter a concealed doorway in the tree that led him down a long passage and into Hogsmeade’s shrieking shack. As McGonagall led them up the spiralling staircase and to Dumbledore’s office, Remus smartened his robes and smiled as pale glistening eyes met his own.  
“Afternoon, Professor, sir.” Remus greeted him, taking a seat.  
“Good afternoon, Mr Lupin. I’m glad to see you are looking well. Now, as you know, in three nights time Madame Pomfrey will be awaiting your arrival in the hospital wing. Business as usual.” Dumbledore paused for a moment, “Alas, am I right to assume that your dear friends, Remus, have made themselves aware of your condition?” He asked, looking strangely more grave than he usually did. Remus was slightly taken aback. How did he know? Remus looked down at his hands, which were twisting in his lap.  
“I.. I don’t know, I guess they’re smart enough to notice some of the signs..” Remus wasn’t sure what would happen if he confessed to them knowing. Dumbledore, however, held a hand up.  
“It’s okay, Remus. I just want you to be careful. Those boys.. they’re loyal and they care, but if they try and involve themselves it will only end in devastation. You’re a smart boy. You know that.” Remus nodded. Of course he knew. He would be the first person to stop the other boys doing anything dangerous for him. A sinking feeling settled in his stomach and Dumbledore seemed to sense this.  
“I’m sure, however, you won’t have anything to worry about. Bold and confident as they are, they can make good decisions. I’m sure of it. Now, off you go. Professor Kettleburn will be down by the edge of the forbidden forest.” Dumbledore stood to dismiss Remus, who turned to go without another word.  
Remus hadn’t thought about that. His friends did often do rash, careless things because they simply wanted to, and Remus was sure that Sirius would insist in finding a way to make his transformations easier.  
Lost in thought and not watching where he was going, Remus narrowly missed a crash into Lily Evans, also on her way to care of magical creatures.  
“Hello Remus,” She smiled softly, falling into step with him, “where’re your unruly friends? Plotting something already?” Remus thought she was meaning to sound disapproving, but perhaps she had gotten bored of it, because there was actually a hint of amusement in her voice. Remus laughed, shaking his head.  
“You think too much of them. If they were plotting, they’d certainly need my expertise. I’m the master behind the chaos.” He winked, earning himself a spirited eye roll as they stepped out of the castle and started across the Hogwarts grounds. Even from where he stood, Remus could see Sirius making a fuss about something and James howling with laughter by his side.  
Lily and Remus joined the rest of the class, who were staring into a big pen of Nifflers.  
“Gather round, gather round,” an a young but tired looking man was saying, “You’ll need to get a good look now, as your homework will be to draw and label a diagram of a Niffler! You’ll need this for your next lesson.” Remus peered inside, making a note of the little black creatures that were fixated on a golden necklace that Marlene McKinnon was wearing, making grabby hands toward it.  
“Now, they’re only babies, so they won’t rob you blind just yet.” Kettleburn chuckled.  
The rest of the lesson passed and Sirius approached their new professor. Upon being presented with a request for a book not even minutely related to the care of magical creatures, Sirius was forced to think on his feet. Remus wished he hadn’t.  
“Well, you know professor it’s not like… well it’s because my little brother, scoundrel he is, has accidentally hexed one of his friends. Oh yes, I know, oh so clumsy, we Black’s are! Ha ha!” Remus and James watched as Sirius nodded his head along with an entertained Kettleburn.  
“Anyway! My dearest mother, for the life of her, cannot find the counter hex. So she’s asked me to get this book to fo her a favour.” And, although Remus couldn’t believe it, Kettleburn was handing over the permission slip, signed, in moments.  
“Pah!” Sirius chuckled as they were heading back up to the castle for dinner. “What a dweeb! It was almost too easy.” He gloated, waving the paper around in James’ face before Remus pinched it out of his hand.  
“Use your brain, Sirius. If another teacher sees you with this, they’ll have it off of you before you can even start the first sentence of your cock and bull story. Not everyone is that gullible.” The parchment was folded up and tucked into Remus’ pocket. He’d head down to the library after dinner and pick it up, for he was sure Madame Pince wouldn’t let Sirius near the restricted section again.  
After dinner, Remus slipped off to the library for the book. He returned to the Gryffindor common room triumphant but faltered when seeing the Marauders weren’t in their usual spot by the fire. He frowned. instead, he climbed the stairs to the dormitory. He was about to push the door open and reveal his success when we heard a loud hushing sound from James.  
“Peter will you shut up! If Remus finds out, it’s game over.” Remus peered from the crack in the ajar door. James, Sirius and Peter were sat around a stack of big, old textbooks on James bed.  
“We’re close now. The first step is done! And good thing too, that mandrake leaf was revolting and Mum and Dad kept asking why I was chewing funny at dinner. We can’t just stop now, even if Remus finds out.” Peter whispered timidly.  
“You’re naive if you don’t think he’ll stop us twenty minutes before we reach our goal. He can’t know. Not yet. “ Sirius said solemnly. Remus watched, frozen on the spot and unsure of what to do. His stomach had dropped and his heart was beating practically out of his chest. Dumbledore was right. If he went in now, he’d be able to stop whatever ridiculous nonsense they were plotting, right? But what if they did it anyway, behind his back?  
No, he knew what he’d do. Mandrake leaf in the mouth, thats what he knew so far. He’d figure out what they were planning, and that way he could make physical restrictions for them. Stop them in their tracks. He went back to the bottom of the stairs, trying to ease his breathing and steady his shakes. Then, once he was as composed as he was sure he could be, he noisily went back up. Sure enough, his loud steps had warned the boys and they sat lazily chewing on chocolate frogs as though nothing was happening. Peter, though, was avoiding Remus’ gaze.  
Remus breathed, trying to stifle the bubbling anger, worry and guilt that was swirling round deep in his stomach.  
“Alright, lads?”


	3. Hallows Eve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys are in for a wild ride, and amongst the chaos, Remus has to catch himself mid absurd thought about his best friend, Sirius Black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a slow start but I think we're getting somewhere. It's easier to introduce action and tiny fluff bits now that the scene is set, so bare with me. I'm getting the hang of it.  
> Also, I'm sorry I'm a lazy writer. This stuff takes time and I've lost my glasses, so I've only spell / grammar checked about half of my work, sorry! Just trying to avoid getting a migraine from staring at my screen for too long.  
> Anyway, enjoy! Comments are more than welcome, I'm open to suggestions.

It was harder than Remus had thought it would be to act normal for the next couple of days. He had Sirius’ knowing eyes burning into him though every lesson, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even James, with the prompting of Sirius, had noticed that something was the matter. Peter, thankfully for Remus, wasn’t quite as emotionally intelligent and so he spent most of his time dodging Sirius and James in favour of their chubby friend. When that wasn’t a viable option, Remus gravitated towards Lily. This repelled Siruis (“She’s a hypocrite, calling me arrogant!”) and made James either too nervous to talk or too egotistical for Lily to stick around- in which scenario, Remus would follow.  
It wasn’t that Remus didn’t appreciate his friends. Clearly, whatever idiotic thing they were doing was something to do with him, and he would put what little money he had on the fact that it was to help ease his transformations. He loved that they cared enough about him to do that. He didn’t think it was even possible for anyone to care that much about him, let alone three fourteen year old boys with the emotional availability of a cauldron. Whatever it was, though, it was bound to be stupendously dangerous. Guilt churned Remus’ insides every time he so much as looked any of them in the eye.  
On the day of the full moon, after a good few hours of combing through dusty library books to find the uses of mandrake leaves, Remus heard footsteps approaching him. Senses heightened by the wolf being so close to the surface, he didn’t need to turn around to know who it was. He recognised the familiar scent, the one of dewy grass after a storm, to belong to Sirius. Closing his book as to not arouse suspicion, Remus looked up at Sirius and forced a smile. He opened his mouth to greet the other but didn’t get very far.  
“What’s going on, Moon- Remus?” `Sirius corrected himself as he glanced around at the few stray Ravenclaws lingering around the library.  
“Just having a brainstorm for the Halloween prank.” Remus lied, though he thought it might be in vain, because Sirius just quirked a brow and sat down.  
“I know what day it is. How you holding up?” Sirius murmured, leaning his head closer to Remus’ in order to stop people from listening in. Remus just nodded, trying hard not to think about the agony he would be in in a few short hours. Sirius lay a hand on Remus’ thin wrist, offering a comforting smile.  
“We’ll be waiting in the hospital wing for you in the morning.” Remus’ lips twitched into a smile. A genuine one, for the first time in a few days. Sirius did tend to have that effect on him. He put it down to the fact that Sirius was simply the most sensitive, deep down, of all the boys. He stared at the hand on his wrist, perhaps for a little too long, because it was then hastily withdrawn.  
“Uh, so, let me know if there’s anything we can get you. I hear the house elves cook up a mean chocolate cake. I’ll bring some up to the dorm before you have to go to meet Pomfrey?” Sirius offered.  
“Ooh, yeah,” Remus’ eyes widened at the thought, like a child on Christmas morning, “and get them to put those rainbow sprinkles on it. I like those.” He grinned, practically drooling already. Sirius chuckled, ruffling Remus’ hair.  
“Well, I couldn’t forget about the sprinkles. That would be a cardinal sin.” He declared. 

**************************************************************************************************************************************************

The next fourteen hours passed in a blur of delicious cake, walking through the cold, empty corridors of the castle to meet Madame Pomfrey, and then hours of suffering. He had no recollection of his transformation when he came around at daybreak, but found himself laying naked on the floor of the shrieking shack covered in blood and fresh new wounds. The wolf, Remus had pieced together, would slash at itself in rage, confusion and claustrophobia. A great, weeping wound throbbed over his muscular torso. Wincing, Remus pulled some robes over himself as he anticipated Madame Pomfey’s arrival to assist him back to the castle.  
An hour later, wounds magically healed and a healing potion practically covering him from head to toe to help with scarring, Remus was drugged up and in slumber. He was only disturbed a couple of hours later, to the sound of Sirius loudly arguing with Madame Pomfrey.  
“Please, Madame Pomfrey! I promised Remus I’d see him, and he needs me!” Sirius cried, quickly being shushed by a very angry sounding nurse. Remus cleared his throat and called out, in a scratchy voice, “It’s okay, I’m awake, you can let them in.”  
“But you need to rest! Oh, Merlin, fine!” She huffed, stepping aside. There was a scuffling sound and suddenly Sirius was skidding to a halt in front of the hospital bed. His face lit up and then dropped just as quickly when he saw the bedraggled state of Remus. Dark circles under his eyes, hair as messy as James’, and skin paler than usual, Remus imagined he looked a state. Blushing slightly in embarrassment, he used the remains of his strength to pull himself into an upright position. Sirius, on the other hand, looked very much like he might cry. He sat beside Remus’ bed as James and Peter were filing in, slightly calmer.  
“Moony.” Sirius whispered sadly, dumping his load of chocolate and sweets onto the bedside table, “How’re you feeling? Was it really awful?”  
“It wasn’t the worst,” Remus smiled slightly to reassure him, nodding toward James and Peter, “I’m feeling better already, just tired. Madame Pomfrey is a miracle worker.”  
“It’ll get better Remus, we promise! We’ll make it-” Peter chimed in, earning himself a swift kick from James. Remus froze up. In fact, they all did. After a few long moments of silence Remus made a small choking noise.  
“Whatever you guys are planning to do, don’t.” Sirius opened his mouth to protest but Remus looked him dead in the eye and he decided against it.  
“I need you to promise me that you’re not going to go through with it.” Remus pleaded, desperation clear in his voice. James and Peter looked at each other, searching for something to say. Sirius, however, dipped his head and shook it slowly.  
“I’m sorry, Rem. I can’t promise you that.” Silence fell among them again. Now Remus thought he would cry. In fact, he felt a tear well up and he turned his face away. He was filled with feelings of frustration and anguish that were getting all mixed up and stopping him from making a coherent plea to his friends. He slumped down and closed his eyes, willing sleep to take him away from these feelings. He felt himself about to drift, but not before James told the others that Remus was asleep and that they should get to breakfast. He heard two sets of footsteps leave the hospital wing. Before he heard the third, he felt a warm breath against his ear and a murmur of “I’m so sorry. Please don’t worry about us.” And then… surely not? It felt as though a soft pair of lips had pressed a very gentle kiss to the top of his head.  
Remus’ tummy did a funny flip thing. What was that feeling? It was probably embarrassment. Yeah, that would be it. Even so, he couldn’t be sure Sirius really did kiss his head. Maybe it was the heavy medicine making him imagine things, or maybe Sirius hadn’t meant to do so but had lost his balance and…landed, lips first and very softly, on Remus’ head. That was plausible.  
After making a recovery and returning to his classes, Remus decided not to mention whatever it was the Marauders were doing. He threw himself, instead, headfirst into the Halloween prank and his studies. Before he knew it, another month and another full moon had passed.  
“I’ve finally sorted all the final touches!” Remus bragged as he stepped through the portrait hole and into the glaring glow of the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. It was the night before Halloween and his arms were laden with the many restricted books that they had managed to collect in the last four weeks of care of magical studies. Sitting next to Sirius on the squishy sofa, Remus rolled out a long piece of parchment that had their plans for the prank on.  
“So we have the floor of the great hall all ready for transfiguration into that muggle board game, snaked and ladders but 3D. The trigger phrase is ‘Good evening, ghouls and boys’. Dumbledore will say it. He does every year, it’s his favourite joke.” Remus began explaining in a low voice, the attention of James and Sirius avidly captured.  
“Brilliant, and then I’ll release the banner I’ve hung from the ceiling. It has the instructions and rules that Pete wrote out, and so any pureblood wizards will be all caught up.” Sirius confirmed proudly and gave Peter a nudge of appreciation. Peter stuck his chest out with pride at his role.  
“The prefects are all charmed, yes? One of each house will snap to the starting mark and act as counters. Then the rest of the house can use magic to stupefy the snakes, help them climb up and over the ladders and roll the dice. Did we transfigure that pumpkin?” James chipped in, rubbing his hands together in excitement. Remus nodded with a short salute and grinned.  
“It’ll roll into a dice when one of us shouts ‘Let the games begin!’. The first house to reach the finish mark will have crowns charmed to their heads for the next week.” It had been a whole lot of intricate charm work and advanced incantations to busy Remus, Sirius and James (whilst Peter kept guard of the corridors) and so Remus hadn’t had the chance to worry himself sick over whatever the others were scheming.  
A long while of going over the plan later, the boys retired to bed, buzzing all over with excitement.  
“You know, your mind amazes me every day, Moony.” Sirius whispered, turning to lay on his side so he could see Remus, who did the same. Glad that Sirius couldn’t see him blush in the dark, Remus grinned.  
“I can’t take all the credit, I just don’t mind the reading part. It’s called not having the attention span of a fly.” Remus retorted, watching a partially visible Sirius roll his eyes, a trait that Remus suspected the boy picked up from his own bad habit of it.  
Halloween day went surprisingly quickly, despite more than a few teachers getting suspicious of the snickers and whispers coming from the Marauders all day. By the time the feast approached, McGonagall was sat in her chair looking around somewhat frantically. This, of course, made Sirius very happy.  
Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat after all the students were seated on their house tables. As if directed by a phantom supervisor, Dumbledore seemed to even smirk a little bit and said,  
“Good evening, ghouls and boys.” And right on cue, the tables flattened into a game board with squares labelled one to one hundred. The seats sculpted themselves into towering ladders, dropping students onto their bottoms and leaving immediate uproar. Four confused looking prefects hopped onto the start square and the halloween coloured streamers hanging around the wall snapped into playful snakes. A few Hufflepuff girls fainted, much to James’ delight.  
From the ceiling, a great roll of engorged parchment unfurled and began booming the rules of the game, followed closely by the instructions. Soon, thankfully for the Marauders, people began to comply rather than bustle around in an unhelpful panic.  
Remus noticed a few teachers beginning to interfere but were quickly stopped by Dumbledore. He clearly wanted to either appreciate the impeccable charm work or, the more likely, just see how this played out.  
Ten minutes later, when the chaos had come to a simmer, Sirius hoisted himself halfway up a ladder, held still by Remus and James.  
“Let the games begin!” He announced plainly, hopping down with ease and watching a dice roll up the great hall and toward him. He picked it up, rolled for Gryffindor and got the result of a very confused prefect taking six gigantic steps forward.  
The result of the game, much to Remus’ pleasure, was a lot of house teamwork. He was sure this wasn’t the type of mischief that James and Sirius had in mind, but he also knew it would definitely count for brownie points- and the more of those they could get, the lesser their punishment would be.  
Students of all years pitched in their ideas to stop the snakes from tying up the contestants and snapping at their ankles. They fixed wobbly ladders with varying charms and levitating charms (performed by groups of ten students at a time) helped heave the prefects over them at record speeds. Everyone was rather enjoying themselves. Even McGonagall was found changing into her animagus form to leap around and distract the snakes to give Gryffindor the advantage.  
Soon came the time where Hufflepuff and Gyffindor were neck and neck, two squares away from victory. Unfortunately for the Slytherins, their own house mascot of the snakes was not playing nicely with them. It amused Sirius to no end.  
“It’s a fight to the death!” Sirius called loudly, to which three teachers threatened to confiscate his wand if he didn’t stop panicking the younger years.  
The atmosphere was tense and quiet around the great hall as Gryffindor was set to roll the dice. James lifted it up as high as he could in his arms, spun around at full speed three times before launching it across the room- narrowly missing squishing a few first years.  
As it rolled to a halt, Remus took a deep breath and walked over to take a look. Everyone watched him apprehensively, waiting for the result. After a long moment, he let out a roar of victory, accompanied by the yell of,  
“It landed on two!” The entire of Gryffindor house exploded into applause and a few mutters of ‘this was obviously rigged!’ Could be heard from the Slytherin house. Hundred of gleaming, golden crowns appeared the heads of the Gryffindor students and, with spirits running high, it was safe to say it was a fantastic way to end the term… And worth every second of their inevitable punishment.


	4. The story behind the Mandrake leaves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Marauders take the necessary steps, in their opinion, to help Remus end his suffering.

And a punishment there was. Despite the fact that the teachers did seem to enjoy the good hearted fun and games, there did have to be a consequence to the mayhem. McGonagall had a long list of parchment outlining all the possible outcomes and dangers that could have occurred, though she couldn’t quite conceal the smile on her face when she was reprimanding them.  
“Nevertheless,” She sighed, peering over her rectangular spectacles a them as they sat in her office on the first chilly November evening, “nothing did go spectacularly wrong, and I have to admit that it did get the school thinking on their feet and working together. Quite harmoniously, in fact. I am particularly impressed by the work of you four. That magic was… beyond advanced.” Remus grinned from ear to ear, and suspected Sirius and James had a similar expression.  
“That being said, Professor Kettleburn is no longer under your little charms.” She raised her eyebrows, bringing a flush to Remus’ pale cheeks. It was fun while it lasted.  
“Now, as for your punishments. I think an evening of detention for your all shall suffice. Pettigrew, you shall join me and will be writing lines. Four hours.” She set, to which Peter groaned and crossed his arm in a sulky manner. McGonagall ignored this.  
“Black, Lupin, with Hagrid. Groundwork, perhaps.” She continued. Remus felt relief wash over him. That would be easy and, dare he say, fun. Sirius, however, didn’t look quite as happy with this outcome. Remus’ best guess would be because Sirius didn’t like to get his hands dirty. He was never one with hard labour.  
“And finally Potter, you will accompany Mr Filch with some cleaning matters. You’ll be handed the fine details tomorrow morning at breakfast. That is all.” This earned McGonagall an icy stare from James and a snigger from Sirius, who was now feeling much better about his own circumstances.  
They trundled back to the Gyffindor common room, James loudly complaining about having it the worst of the lot of them. Remus, glory of the night before having worn off before the glimmering crowns had, was left now to think about his friends. As the all consuming worry was trickling back through his veins, he made the decision to scrap his first plan. He’d have to resort to good old fashioned begging and logic.  
“Guys,” Remus scratched the back of his head as they bagged their favourite armchairs and sofa by the great fireplace, “I need you to be honest with me.”  
Sirius already knew what was coming and was refusing to meet Remus’ eyes. James had found an extremely interesting piece of thread on his arm and Peter was looking vaguely confused. Remus continued nonetheless.  
“C’mon, guys. I… I need you to tell me whatever it was you were trying to do.”  
“Are trying to do.” Sirius stubbornly corrected, though still averting his gaze. Remus gritted his teeth.  
“Just… tell me.” Remus was usually very good at managing his temper. Anger was his least favourite quality and it made him feel animalistic. Right now, though, he felt very much like shouting. Shouting at the top of his lungs that his friends shouldn’t be so stupid. Shouting that they would be risking themselves, maybe their lives, for a monster like himself. He wanted to cry and cry and berate himself for allowing such good people to get close enough to him to hurt himself. But he didn’t.  
Finally, the silence that Remus hadn’t even noticed had fallen upon them was broken. It was James, who was sending Sirius an apologetic look.  
“We should go upstairs and discuss this.” Was all he said before disappearing up the stairs to the dorm. Eagerly, torn between relief and anxiety of knowing, Remus followed.  
All seated in a thick atmosphere, squashed onto James’ bed, Sirius took a deep breath. In his opinion, following Remus’ track record of the rare occurrences that he’d been angry, the latter reacted the best to Sirius. He didn’t know why or what it was, but Remus and him had an understanding.  
“So, after last year, when we first saw how traumatic your transformations can be, we all decided that something had to be done. I know you don’t believe us when we say it, Rem, but you deserve an easier life. That’s when we decided to start searching for some way we could help.” He said, voice low and calm.  
“So we spent hours poring over books in the library. We concluded that being near you during the moon obviously wasn’t an option. We love you very much but even we’re not that stupid.” James continued, scratching his head and peering at Remus through thick glasses.  
“Nothing seemed viable. Werewolves would rip a human to shreds, even if you are the least believable or intimidating werewolf possible.” Peter offered, daring a small smile. Remus gratefully breathed a chuckle. It was so like his friends to put a positive spin on a dreadful thing.  
“And we couldn’t exactly get our hands on an animal big enough and intelligent enough to be able to communicate with wolfy Remus without it being in danger. So, we thought we were done. We had practically given up when good old Minerva gave us that lesson on transfiguration.” Sirius allowed himself a broad smile, clearly proud of himself. Remus was not proud of them.  
He practically fell off the bed, stumbling to a stand and shaking his head so fast and hard he got dizzy very quickly.  
“Don’t even finish where you’re going with this, Black. It is not happening. No way. Do you… are you not comprehending how ridiculous you sound?” Remus didn’t stop for a breath. “Not only is it such advanced magic that most fully qualified wizards cannot accomplish it but it is also,” he wheezed now, red in the cheeks, “VERY ILLEGAL!”  
“It’s not illegal if you’re registered.” James offered, rather unhelpfully in Sirius’ opinion.  
“Well, are you- three very underaged, immature wizards- getting registered?” Remus puffed.  
“No.”  
“Thought not. Get this ludicrous idea out of your heads.”  
“Remus, think about it. We’d have a conscious, human mind. We’d know when we were in danger and be quick enough to respond if need be. Most importantly, there’s mounds and mounds of research and evidence that wolves like to play with other animals… as long as they don’t pose a threat and, well, we wouldn’t put Moony in a situation where he felt threatened.” Sirius blabbered, just trying to do anything to give Remus an insight.  
“And we’ve completed stage one and two! It was the hardest bit, a month with a plant in my mouth!” Peter piped up.  
“The leaves are in a crystal phial, with the pure moonlight. Our hairs in in there! We just have the potion to brew.” Remus knew that James was speaking to him but he wasn’t listening anymore. He turned and left the room without another word.  
Past curfew and with no plan to where he was going, Remus just walked. Full speed, eyes on the path in front of him, he let his feet take him wherever was far enough away from the Gryffindor tower.  
Ten minutes later, he found himself collapsing to sit on a dewy grass under the moonlight that lit up the grounds around him. He was next to the lake, by the Marauders usual tree to slouch upon in the heat. He didn’t know how long he’d been sat there when that ever familiar rainy smell invaded his senses.  
Sirius thumped down beside him, not saying a word. He knew it was no good to beg with Remus, explain to him, try to persuade him. So they sat. Not a word was said between them, and almost an hour had passed before this changed.  
“I always wonder,” Sirius whispered, laying his head on Remus’ shoulder, “what it is that makes you so different.” Remus scoffed at this.  
“I could list a few things.” He huffed, deciding not to comment on the weight on his shoulder. Now wasn’t the time to question that flutter he’d felt, like he had that time in the hospital wing.  
“That’s not what I mean. You know that’s not what I mean.” Sirius’ voice was now barely audible but Remus heard every bit clear as day.  
“We won’t stop until we can take some of that pain away, Rem. Maybe it won’t be soon, maybe it won’t even be until we’re all old and wrinkly and in a loony old peoples home together, causing havoc there.” Sirius felt Remus chuckle weakly. “But we will.”  
Remus sighed heavily. Two steps in, with a potion to brew, and Remus hadn’t noticed a thing. Would anybody notice a thing?  
“Breaks my heart a little every time I see you in that hospital bed.” Sirius hummed, knowing not to push the boundaries. Ignoring that his hear seemed to skip a beat, Remus groaned and threw himself backward onto the grass, staring up at the stars. He was very much going against his better judgement. No, actually, he was going against all judgement and sense and every fibre in his being.  
“Don’t let Peter brew the potion. Don’t get struck by lightening. Let me read all the information and, for the love of god, when I tell you to do something or not to do something, listen to me.” Remus laid down his ground rules, with a heavy heart and spirits, “And this doesn’t mean that if you are successful, and not thrown into Azkaban,” Remus shot Sirius a glare, who didn’t seem to care in the slightest but was looking, instead, filled with hope, “that I’ll let you come to my transformations with me. I’m only not reporting you to bloody Dumbledore because… well because if you’re going to get found out for trying, you might as well bloody have the skill” Remus muttered, closing his eyes and taking some deep breaths. Sirius didn’t dare speak. He just laid beside Remus for a long few hours. 

***************************************************************************************************************************************************

Usually, on the second day of the Halloween half term, everyone was still buzzing with the joy of not having lessons. James and Peter, however, were feeling guilty and deflated.  
“We were so damn close. This could be something for Remus.” James paced their dormitory, watched closely by Peter. The shorter boy was chewing on a chocolate frog, nodding solemnly. He didn’t have time to swallow and respond before Remus and Sirius had burst into the room, burdened with an insane amount of dusty books written in all sorts of languages and detail. From his pocket, Remus fished out the four crystal phials that Sirius had given to him to look after.  
“I sent my owl off to fetch me a muggle newspaper.” He nodded to the paper on the top of his book pile, “and it says there’s due a thunder storm in a week.” James and Peter exchanged confused gazes. Sirius’ eyes could just be seen behind his own armful of books but they were evidently full of excitement. Remus rid his arms of the books, picked up the one on the top of the pile and opened it to a marked page. Clearly and steadily, he read,  
“Add a silver teaspoon of dew from a place that neither sunlight nor human feet have touched and the chrysalis of a Death’s-head Hawk Moth≥” raising an eyebrow. “Sirius tells me you have both safely stored away, and have done for the last six days. Tomorrow, we will add them to the phials.”  
James couldn’t quite believe his ears, or eyes, so he took his glasses off, rubbed them on his hoodie and slid them back up his nose. It was still Remus, reading from a strictly forbidden (and possibly stolen?) animagus book from the library. He began to ask one of the many questions he had, but Remus cut him off, still sounding very official.  
“I will hide the potion away. You will not know where it is, as I can’t trust a single one of you to leave him alone. Meddlers, the lot of you.” At this, Remus allowed himself a smile before continuing. “I hope you’ve all been speaking your incantations, precisely on the sunrise and sunset, otherwise you’re wasting my time and my poor judgement for allowing this.” Peter guiltily put up a hand to admit that he had been doing it, but would like Remus to confirm he’d been doing it correctly. To Sirius and James’ relief, he had. Thank Merlin.  
“On the night of the storm, you will all drink your potion, perform the incantation with your wands to your heart, and I will be hoping and praying to the gods above that none of you mess up and get stuck in between. I need you all to have confidence in yourself because this is dangerous.” Remus continued to talk like an army major, stress oozing from him. Finally, he said,  
“The only reason I’m doing this is because I don’t want any of you doing it alone, panicking and becoming a mutant on my count. I’ll talk you all through. It’s the only way.” He breathed a long sigh of relief and flopped backwards onto his bed. Sirius, James and Peter waited a single moment before rejoicing. Thus, the adventure would continue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I did spend time researching and poring over how to become an animagus! Yes, it is super complex and also super hard to describe, but I tried my best for the accuracy of the fic haha. Enjoy.


	5. Sirius' birthday bonanza

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Siruis' birthday, and emotions are running high after Remus gives him his gift. Weird, unexplainable emotions that both the boys quickly brush under the rug. After all, it's nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lil shorter than usual, sorry! I had a bad case of writing block for this one and between my new killer workout and writing all day I'm getting tired haha. I'll plan better tomorrow, and hopefully it'll flow more. Nevertheless, enjoy!  
> P.S. For reference here and for all future chapters that are relevant to the rituals before the animagus transformation, I'm not going to keep writing about performing these mandatory incantations. It'll get boring and repetitive. Please use your imaginations :)

The next day was Sirius’ birthday, and he didn’t let anyone forget it. On the night of 2nd November, Sirius was dropping some not so subtle hints about the reception he expected the following day.  
“And if someone were to wake me with a glorious cake with sparkling candles and fireworks, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.” He told them all, picturing what was practically a parade of celebrations in his head.  
“You’re going to love my present, Sirius. I’m definitely winning.” James bragged, earning an excited squeal from Sirius.  
“Uh, excuse me. I’m going to win Sirius’ birthday, for sure.” Peter butted in. Sirius seemed as though he was waiting for Remus to defend his own case. He didn’t, despite knowing that Sirius would love his gift. Instead, he waited until James and Peter were preoccupied with something going on across the common room before he leant over to Sirius and muttered,  
“I’m winning.” Plainly, before standing up with a stretch. “Right, I’m off to bed. After all, we’re going to have a busy day.”  
The next morning, much to the delight of Sirius, Remus and James had gotten up half an hour earlier than he usually woke up to strap Dr Filibusters fireworks to each bed post around the bed.  
In the middle of the room sat an enormous birthday cake, standing as tall as two trunks stacked on top of each other. It was decorate with a grand iced face of Sirius and purple-flamed candles.  
None of the Marauders were stupid enough to actually awaken the birthday boy- he might have one of their heads off- but as soon as he stirred slightly there was a commotion of ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’. They set off magical party poppers, coating Sirius in excessive streamers and colour changing confetti.  
Sirius groggily rolled over in bed, nearly choking on a stray piece of confetti. Soon, though, the excitement kicked in and he was up faster than ever before.  
“You guys!” He held his hands for his cheeks, grinning as though he didn’t tell Remus that he’d throw an eight day strop if he didn’t get this level of attention, “you shouldn’t have.”  
“Okay, we’ll just put it all away then-” Remus teased, ignoring Sirius flipping him off.  
“No!”  
“Okay okay, who’s present do you want first?” James asked, itching to hand his over. What Sirius really wanted to say was Remus’, but something gave him a feeling that was one for later. Remus’ bashful look confirmed that, and for some reason that made Sirius smile. For now, he took James’ present.  
Careless and impatient in unwrapping it, Sirius tore the paper and tossed it aside, hitting Peter square in the face.  
“So, you remember last summer when we went into muggle London and saw that great big… roaring machine thingy, that drives.”  
“Motobike.”  
“Yeah, that! So, I got us tickets for a motorbike show! It’s a whole day of the biggest, shiniest and best bikes! I thought it’d be really cool because-” but James couldn’t finish his sentence because Sirius had launched himself at James and captured him in a bone breaking hug. Wheezing a laugh, James patted him on the back.  
“That is so cool! I’ll be able to see them all and make a decision about what the best one to buy is!” Sirius grinned, though clearly James hadn’t had that in mind because he looked slightly alarmed. Sirius with a motorbike didn’t sound like the safest idea in the world.  
Next Sirius opened Peter’s present next, which consisted of mounds of Honeydukes chocolate and sweets, Zonko’s joke products and a mirror that complimented Sirius every time he looked at it. That went down very well indeed, although Sirius did wonder whether it would abolish his excuse to get Remus to give him attention. The thought deflated him just a little.  
James turned to Remus, expecting him to hand over a gift, but Remus shrugged nonchalantly.  
“My present is… nearly ready. Not quite. I’ll just go and get it later.” Remus waved a hand of dismissal. Sirius understood, though Remus was quite sure he wouldn’t have it that had been James or Peter. He was quite impatient most of the time.  
Instead, Remus carried the cake over to Sirius’ bed and began to sing happy birthday. James and Peter joined in while Sirius waved both fingers in the air to the rhythm as though he were a conductor. When they had finished, he took a large breath in and blew out all fifteen candles with an excited round of applause for himself.  
The rest of Sirius’ birthday went swimmingly, filled with cake and laughs and a lot of pranks using the Zonko’s supply from Peter. When they’d run out of food, hoping to continue the merriment amongst the whole Gyrffindor common room, James and Peter decided to run down to the kitchens and gather some food and drink from the house elves. Meanwhile, Remus and Sirius went up to the dorm to add the dew they’d collected, untouched by man or sunlight, to add to the animagus potions.  
When they got upstairs, Remus gave the phials to Sirius, who then began digging through his trunk to find the sheltered ingredient. He began to add the dew to each phial and then, quickly and carefully, stored them away where Remus had told him to. When he turned around, Remus had a shabbily wrapped present in his hands. His freckled cheeks were flushed red and he was wearing a bashful smile.  
“It’s… well, it’s more for when you’re home during the summer and can’t sneak away to the Potter’s. I know how hard it is for you… you know, with your parents being the way they are.” Remus began to hastily explain, feeling more and more embarrassed by the minute.  
Sirius took the present, sitting down on the edge of his bed and, much more carefully than he had with James or Peter’s gifts, unwrapping it.  
As the paper fell away it revealed a photo album. On the front, under the large print stating ‘The Marauders’, was a photo of James, Sirius, Peter and Remus. They had their arms around each other and were all grinning or laughing.  
The photo had been taken on the last day of third year, after the boys had all spent days convincing Remus that they didn’t care that he was a werewolf. It had been the happiest and most surreal time of Remus’ life.  
To Remus’ relief, Sirius was already wearing a very warm smile, one that crinkled the skin around his eyes. As he started to slowly look through, the pages sported manly photos of Sirius and Remus together, but also all four of them, Sirius with Remus and James. All the memories that had been caught on both Peter’s muggle camera and the magical pictures that Remus had gone to great lengths to get developed. As the book was coming to an end, Sirius’ hair had fallen from behind his ear and was covering his face. Remus couldn’t read how he was feeling.  
“It’s silly, really. Just… didn’t like the thought of you being lonely in your room in Grimmauld Place.” He shrugged, scratching the back of his neck, “but really, it’s just not much. I don’t mind if you don’t like it.” Remus was prepared to go on with his explanations but the breath was knocked out of his when Sirius threw both arms around Remus’ neck.  
He heard a sniff and wrapped his arms around Sirius’ back. This, though not the first time they had hugged before, was the first time it felt so… close. There was a long moment before they both drew back. Remus noticed that Sirius’ eyes looked glassy with tears.  
“This is the best gift I’ve ever been given. Thank you.” He said, staring down at his shoes and swallowing a lump in his throat. He felt like his heart was being squeezed but in a good way.  
Remus stared for a minute. He’d never seen Sirius this unguarded and it was scary and new but also felt natural. Why was that?  
“Pffft, I’m sure that’s not true. I mean, look, James practically bought you the rights to a motorbike.” Remus teased, giving Sirius’ arm a light punch. The latter looked up and grinned, wiping a stray tear away.  
“Yeah, and I’m going to look badass on it. Mark my word.” He flipped his hair back dramatically, “But I mean it, Moons. This means a lot to me.”  
Remus was blushing furiously and, for some odd reason, Sirius’ mind had flickered over the idea that it was rather endearing. That was crazy, though. Remus couldn’t be cute or endearing. It was Remus. He was being crazy.  
Sirius didn’t have much time to dwell on it before he heard James and Peter calling for them from the common room. He carefully put the album under his pillow. He’d look at it later tonight and, for now, he wanted to keep it all to himself.  
The boys made their way down to the common room for the rest of the evening, finding that James had managed to sneak in some butterbeers. He’d almost brought up some firewhiskey that the house elves had left over from the teachers Christmas celebrations the year before, but he had run into Lily Evans on the way out of the kitchens who had ordered him to put it back. He’d had to remember to take the invisibility cloak the next time he wanted to steal some food and drink.  
Celebrations ran deep into the evening and it was nearing one in the morning before they departed from the common room in the interest of their, at this point, very appealing beds.  
As they all clambered beneath Gryffindor coloured sheets, Sirius yawned and cleared his throat.  
“Thank you, all of you, for my fabulous birthday bonanza. It’s been a good one.” He grinned, stuffing his mouth with one more treacle toffee from the Honeydukes selection. From the corner of his eye, Remus saw Sirius opening his album once more. A smile was lighting his face and Remus felt his insides buzzing. He was surprised it made him feel so good to make Sirius smile like that. It was probably a friend thing. He’d never had a friend as close to him as Sirius was, most normal kids probably felt like this with all their close childhood friends.  
As Sirius stared at a picture of him and Remus playing exploding snap, he couldn’t help but feel a wave of affection run over him, from head to toe. That was the last thought he had before he drifted into a happy sleep.


	6. The making of Messrs Moony,  Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a rollercoaster ride but here they are, finally facing the moment they'd been waiting for. One lightening storm and a potion later, the boys are finding themselves facing their inner animals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a fun one! Hope you enjoy :)

As the week progressed, the weather got worse. For most of the students in the castle this meant cabin fever, but it was good news for the Marauders. By the end of the first week of November, just a day away from what was cast to be a thunder and lightening storm, the rain and clouds were so thick that Sirius was practically bouncing off of the walls in excitement. He really couldn’t help it. He knew Remus was becoming anxious, and Peter certainly didn’t look like he was on his best form, but this was good for them. Becoming an animagus meant having a whole new realm to explore in terms of helping Remus. He didn’t know exactly what to expect but he did know thet if he could ease the pain for his best friend even the tiniest bit, any amount of danger would have well and truly paid off. His fearlessness of damaging himself for Remus helped, as a matter of fact, because a lack of panic reduced his chances of getting stuck incurably between his animal form and a human. So really his blind recklessness was a good quality after all. At least, that’s how he argued his case when Remus lectured him desperately.  
The common room was gloomy, lit with a roaring fire that tired feebly to combat the gloom of the grey skies outside the ceiling high windows. Sirius sat with his face pressed against the glass, willing the clouds to give out a great big grumble. He wasn’t at all listening to Remus’ attempts to calm down Peter. Nor was he listening to James, who was reeling off all the animals that he thought he could change into, and how lame it would be if he got something small and measly.  
“Sirius? Sirius!” Sirius couldn’t have said how long the voice had been trying to get his attention now, having been lost in dreams of a healthier Remus. He snapped his head round, finding himself staring into worried amber eyes.  
“Are you okay?” Sirius grinned, throwing a casual arm around Remus’ shoulders and giving his arm a comforting squeeze.  
“Never been better. You guys are worrying too much. Pete, I promise you, nothing will go wrong. We’ve gotten this far without a mistake. The last part is essentially the easiest part. You got this.” His blasé faire attitude didn’t seem to ease Remus as much as it did Peter. The tawny haired boy was twisted his hands, despite his cool words of comfort. Sirius knew one way to take his mind off of things.  
“Play with my hair.” He said, swinging round in his seat and laying back so that his head was in Remus’ lap. Any other boy of fourteen, Sirius was sure, would be looking alarmed and embarrassed. Apart from a tinge of pink painting Remus’ cheekbones, he simply complied, well accustomed to Sirius’ needy personality.  
The soft, ink-stained fingers fingers running though his hair mindlessly seemed to melt away a stress that Sirius didn’t even realise he had. James and Peter, though they wouldn’t go along with Sirius’ demands in the same way, had gotten used to Remus doing so and no longer thought much of it. However, there were girls dotted around the common room who looked green with envy at Remus’ luck. Sirius didn’t think they needed to be. This was something all friends did. Right? He found himself asking that question time and time again around Remus, but he always came to the same conclusion. That’s when that feeling he got, that affectionate tingle he was getting right now, was swept under the rug and left in the un-dusted corners of his mind.

Remus really didn’t mind just giving Sirius want he wanted. He had stopped putting up a fight after the Marauders had found out about his secret. The boy knew everything about him, it was no good putting on the act. Besides, this did soothe him. It was like having a great, big, soppy dog. Remus smirked to himself at the thought of Sirius knowing he’d compared him to a dog.  
He didn’t know how long they sat there like that, Sirius humming under his breath and Peter and James discussing the new Gryffindor seeker. Eventually, when Peter and James had gone up to bed, Remus glanced down at Sirius. He was surprised to see grey eyes already watching him. Then Sirius’ flawless pale skin blushed pink, something that didn’t happen very often.  
“What?” Remus asked.  
“No, nothing. Got lost in thought.” Sirius didn’t need to speak in anything more than a whisper, though for some reason this made Remus feel like the atmosphere had become instantly more intense. He blinked, hands stopping what they were doing.  
“We should sleep. If everything goes to plan, you’ve got a hell of a task ahead of you tomorrow.” Remus made to move, but Sirius stopped him.  
“You know, Remus, I meant what I said to Peter. None of us have anything to worry about. You have to remember that things only go wrong for witches and wizards who panic or are unsure of what they’re doing or why they’re doing it.” Sirius smiled, “We have the strongest motive. It’s for you. Knowing this this is for you is going to get us through the transformation easily. Why do you think we got this far in the first place?”  
That actually did set Remus’ mind at ease. Although he didn’t know why his friends cared about him the way he did, that didn’t mean he didn’t know how much they did. He would be the first to say that the boys would put him above anyone or anything.  
With that in mind, they made their way to bed. It wasn’t an easy sleep for Remus, who had a million and one questions turning over in his mind. Those questions were soon disturbed by gargantuan snores coming from James’ bed.  
***************************************************************************************************************************************************

Remus stood in a large, empty room. The back wall was covered almost entirely with floor to ceiling windows. Remus thought it best to think up a room where they could all see the first strike of lightening, as to be as precise as possible, and the room of requirement was more than happy to oblige. Each of the boys were in separate corners, just in case, as James had said. Remus had refrained from asking the obvious question, ‘just in case of what?’, but he wasn’t all that sure he wanted to hear the answer.  
Clutched in their hands was a phial filled with what was just about a mouthful of a blood red potion. It reminded Remus disturbingly of the puddles of crimson blood he’d find himself laying in the morning after a full moon. A shudder ran over his entire body.  
No one spoke. Sirius, himself, was focusing on thoughts of Remus’ transformations. If that boy could go through that torture every single month and still be the sweet, funny and kind boy he was, then the Marauders surely could muster the courage to leap headfirst into this. Ha, Remus really did make him fearless, Sirius thought idly.  
Before anyone had a chance to panic, thunder roared outside and suddenly the sky was lit with electricity. It all passed in such a blur for Remus. One minute, he was watching Sirius, who was looking directly into his eyes with such focus as he drew the potion to his lips. The next, after the careful words of an incantation, he was faced with two creatures that no longer resembled his closest friends at all. One, a great big dog. Almost the size of himself in wolf form, Remus would guess, though he couldn’t be sure. It was black, with cool grey eyes and lots of shaggy fur. The second, standing tall and proud, was a stag. Remus was impressed. The animal form of James was majestic, and even though he was sure stags couldn’t smirk, he thought he sensed pride coming from James’ direction.  
Remus looked around. Two animals. Where was Peter? Had something gone wrong? Oh Merlin, if it had then he would never forgive himself. Panic setting in, Remus began looking around frantically. A small squeak sounded in the otherwise quiet room and there was Peter, a tiny grey rat scurrying around the floor.  
It had all gone perfectly. Remus couldn’t believe it. Finally, the reality that he might actually have a shot of not ripping himself to shreds during a full moon had set in. It was incredible what three teenage boys could do with the motivation of love and care. It brought a tear to his eye.  
Sirius, still in his animagus form, noticed this. He couldn’t communicate how he’d wish to, but padded over on massive black paws and nudged Remus’ arm with his wet nose.  
Remus grinned. He patted the dogs head and laughed at the irony. Now he could compare Sirius to a big soppy dog without feeling guilty. It wasn’t to be. disputed.  
“Can any of you get back to humans?” He asked, sitting cross legged on the floor next to Sirius and watching Peter crawl over.  
It took Sirius a lot of thinking, something he didn’t care to do unless it was in favour of a prank, for Sirius to get himself back to his human form. Almost twenty minutes later, he felt his paws shrink back into hands and was sat next to Remus, grinning wider than he ever had.  
“Did you see that? Did you see me, Rem? It was so cool! I’m the grim! That’s the coolest thing ever!” He exclaimed, running his hands back through his hair and bouncing up and down in the spot.  
“You’re not the grim. You’re a big mutt. Much less threatening.” Remus teased, earning himself a scowl.  
“I’m practically the grim. Imagine how many third year girls I can freak out by lurking around. They’ll think I’m an omen!” He howled in laughter. As Rems rolled his eyes, they were joined by the sound of James’ voice. The boy attached was now right as rain and back to normal.  
“So, Moony, what do ya think? Not too shabby for a bunch of amateurs.” He pushed his glasses up his nose, “And the best part, now we can all get cool nicknames!”“Ooooh, yeah! It won’t seem as weird to call you Moony, so you can’t get mad at me for it anymore. People will just think it’s a group thing!” Sirius chimed in.  
Finally, Peter rejoined them, panting with effort.  
“Bloody hope that transformation gets easier. I think that’s the most I’ve used my brain since our exams last year. How come I’m a rat?! You guys get to be great big cool animals and I’m a rat!”  
Sirius and James sniggered.  
“A rat with a great long tail, though. That’s a… good thing?” Remus had clearly failed to find a silver lining, and Siruis snorted with laughter.  
“It looked a bit like a worm. A wormy tail.” He contributed rather unhelpfully. Peter scowled but James was enjoying himself far too much. His eyes gleamed as he had a thought.  
“Wormtail, haha. Perfect. That’s you sorted, Pete.”  
“What? No way! I’m not going by Wormtail!”  
“It’s too late, that’s your identity now. Me? I’m going by The Grim.” Sirius said dramatically, his hands flailing in the air as though he was resenting his name on a golden platter.  
“We are not going to walk around calling you The Grim.” Remus objected, though he was laughing nonetheless, “You’ve got big, clumsy feet. You don’t stalk around like the grim, you pad around like an oversized house cat!”  
“That’s perfect, Remus! He’ll be Padfoot.” James confirmed, and Remus nodded in confirmation. Very fitting indeed, he thought.  
“Padfoot? That’s not badass.” He pouted, but succumbed to his fate fairly fuss free, to Remus’ surprise. James was looking thoughtful as he considered what he, himself, could be called.  
“As the best animal of the lot of you, I’ll be choosing my own name. I deserve it because I’m regal.” He bragged. Sirius frowned irritably, shaking his head.  
“You’re not regal! You had two great big prongs sticking out your head!”  
“And that, lads, brings the council for nickname choosing to a close. You’ll be going by Prongs.” Remus announced, beaming. He had never felt so elated.  
“Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs? Not too shabby.” Sirius was slowly nodding his head and the others shortly piped up in agreement.  
“Wait wait wait, how about this… Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?” James suggested. Remus liked the ring that had to it. It solidified that feeling that they were a team. They had loyalties to one another.  
“I like it. So, anyone for a celebratory butterbeer from the house elves?” He asked, brushing off his robes as he stood up. Things were about to get much better for him. He didn’t think that was even possible.


End file.
